The present invention relates to a game apparatus and a method of replaying a game, and more particularly to a game apparatus and a method of replaying a game for displaying a moving entity which moves in a given area on a display screen.
More particularly, the present invention is concerned with a game apparatus and a method of replaying a game for displaying, on a display screen, an object which moves in a given area according to a control signal from the operator and a predetermined game program, and for replaying the movement of the object on the display screen under a replay condition designated by a replay command.
There have heretofore been known various television games including sports games of soccer, hockey, basket ball, tennis, golf, etc. In such a sports game, the operator controls a ball (or a pack) that has been moved by a player in the game within a given play area to shoot at a goal in a given position, or hit the ball into a court or a cup, thus gaining a point. Other television games include martial art games in which players move in a given combat area and exchange tricks or techniques to win the game.
Some game apparatus for playing sports games and martial art games have a save function and a replay function.
The save function allows the operator to store the data of a game at the time it is interrupted into a memory (RAM) and also allows the operator to read the stored data from the memory when the game is resumed, so that the operator can continuously play the game.
The replay function stores the data of a game, as it is constantly updated, for a certain period of time while the game is in progress, and permits the operator to pause in the game when an excellent or rare situation, such as a nice goal or superb technique, occurs during the game, storing several scenes of the situation into another RAM. After the game, the operator can select a desired excellent or rare situation from the stored scenes for replay.
According to the replay function of the conventional game apparatus, however, replayed images of a game are displayed only from the same viewpoint at the same size in the same sequence as the images that were displayed while the game was in progress, and it is impossible to reproduce the excellent or rare situation as viewed from a viewpoint different from that of the actual game under way, for the operator to see. Another problem is that the operator cannot view scenes in an enlarged or reduced scale. The conventional game apparatus are designed such that they do not permit the operator to change freely the position itself of a viewpoint for game display, but they display images only at a given fixed angle, while a game is going on.
In the conventional game apparatus, the replay function has been performed by storing a history of control signals from a control pad which is operated by the operator during a game. When a replay command is issued, the game apparatus reads the stored history of control signals and processes image data in the same manner as in the game to play back game scenes. The reason for the above process of performing the replay function is that the memory used is of the simplest structure.
Therefore, scenes to be reproduced cannot be played in a sequence which is a reversal of the sequence of the game in progress. This is because a control signal from the control panel is entered based on the selection of a control action depending on a previous situation in the game, and a game scene cannot be played back with only control signals from the control pad unless information about a previous situation in the game is available.
In the game apparatus, the position of an object to be displayed next in a game is calculated from a control signal from the control pad and a previous situation in the game according to the algorithm of a given game program thereby to generate display data, and display the data on a display monitor. Depending on the calculating process, game scenes may not be reproduced in a fast-forward mode or a slow-motion mode. Furthermore, it may not be possible to reproduce game scenes while moving the viewpoint of the display screen (corresponding to the viewpoint of the camera), and to play back game scenes while enlarging or reducing the image through zooming in, zooming out, etc.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a game apparatus which will solve the above problems.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a game apparatus which can freely replay a game according to a command signal for reverse play, fast-forward, slow-motion, etc.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a game apparatus which allows the viewpoint of a display screen (the viewpoint of a camera) to be moved or allows images to be zoomed in or zoomed out while a game is being replayed.
The above problems can be solved by the following arrangement of the present invention:
According to the present invention, there is provided a game apparatus comprising memory means for storing, for a predetermined period of time, absolute coordinates in a predetermined area of a moving entity which moves in the predetermined area in response to a control signal entered by an operator while a game is in progress, display data generating means for reading the absolute coordinates from the memory means in response to a replay request from the operator and processing the absolute coordinates into display data depending on processing information supplied from an input unit by the operator, and display control means for replaying and displaying the moving entity on a display screen based on the display data.
The memory means stores, for a predetermined period of time, absolute coordinates in the predetermined area of the moving entity which moves in the predetermined area in response to the control signal entered by the operator while the game is in progress. The display data generating means reads the absolute coordinates from the memory means in response to the replay request from the operator and processes the absolute coordinates into display data depending on processing information supplied from the input unit by the operator. Therefore, it is possible to generate display data different from the display data generated while the game is in progress. In response to the replay request, the moving entity can be displayed on the display screen based on display data, e.g., rotated, enlarged, or reduced display data, different from the display data generated while the game is in progress.
The above objects of the present invention can be achieved by a method of replaying a game in which objects are moved in a predetermined area in response to a control signal entered by an operator while the game is in progress, comprising the steps of determining absolute coordinates and movement data of a first object in an absolute coordinate space established in the predetermined area in response to the control signal entered by the operator with respect to images displayed while the game is in progress, determining absolute coordinates and movement data of a second object in the absolute coordinate space based on the absolute coordinates and the movement data of the first object according to a predetermined algorithm of a game program, storing a history of the absolute coordinates and the movement data of the first and second objects in a memory, reading the absolute coordinates and the movement data of the first and second objects from the memory in response to input information indicative of a replay command and a replay mode from the operator, processing the absolute coordinates and the movement data which are read for a perspective conversion according to the input information indicative of a replay mode, thereby generating image data of the first and second objects to be displayed, and displaying the generated image data.
When a replay request is issued, since the history of positions and movements in the absolute coordinate space of the objects in the game has already been stored in the memory, scenes of the game can be replayed in various replay modes by entering a sequence of reading the data, a viewpoint and the direction of a field of view used in calculations to change perspectives, and zooming in or zooming out, as replay mode information from the operator. Inasmuch as the data of the objects that have been generated while the game is under way are used, it is not necessary to calculate the data again for replay, but the data of the objects for respective frames are mechanically processed for a perspective conversion. Consequently, desired scenes can be replayed without imposing an undue burden on a CPU.